Archives: Podcast

When Paul Rezendes was kind enough to write a blurb for the back cover of Images of Essence, my book collaboration with Bob Fergeson, I had no idea there was anything more to Paul than being a talented nature photographer and wildlife tracker. A few years later, a friend recommended I watch of series of videos featuring him. I was immediately hooked by Paul Rezendes’ unique way of presenting self inquiry as “tracking the mind.”

I hope you enjoy this interview, as it brings to light the passion for truth that Paul Rezendes’ life exemplifies and which he emphasizes with those he meets.

How most movies and music strum the strings of the ego self. [1:08:50]

Art and the creative process. [1:11:05]

“Awakening isn’t a reaction to something.” [1:14:18]

Anyone is welcome to email Paul or join his online dialogue group. [1:17:44]

There is also a free, feature-length documentary called The Inner Tracker that has Paul Rezendes and a number of other notables in the tracking community gathered to talk about a “new” kind of tracking: the tracking of the self. I have a background in environmental education, so found it interesting to see some of the participants tightly bound to concepts and identities around protecting nature, confronted by the fundamental question of “who is it that believes they are saving something?”

With a spiritual search spanning fifty years, Tess Hughes has a wealth of practical experience on the spiritual path. Her search blossomed in its last five years when she encountered the TAT Foundation and learned of the possibility of awakening in this lifetime. A science teacher for many years, Tess Hughes seemingly can’t get enough of teaching and currently facilitates several groups in Ireland. To learn more about Tess, purchase her book This Above All. You can contact Tess at tesshghs[“at”]gmail.com.

“I really wonder what God feels like?” That’s the question that finally drove Anima Pundeer to awakening. To really wonder, and be open to whatever answer may come, rather than demanding God take a certain form or feeling — that is a startlingly rare place to find oneself.

I hope you find this interview with Anima Pundeer as simple and direct as I did. If you are inspired to reach out to Anima (who lives in Houston, TX), contact her at apundeer at gmail dot com. You can see Anima in the film Meetings With Remarkable Women, as well.

Shake up your preconceptions about spiritual awakening and enlightenment by joining my guest, Paul Constant. Paul is a frequent presenter at TAT Foundation retreats, as well as holding events of his own on the East Coast.

I hope you find this interview of Paul Constant inspiring and informative.

Our conversation tackles Advaita misconceptions, Bob’s time with Richard Rose, his own awakening experience, and even includes Bob’s “cheat sheet” for the spiritual search.

Bob Cergol (racergol at tatfoundation.org) is a deeply profound spiritual teacher yet lesser known. His words are based in practical experience and grounded in wisdom. I have listened to this interview several times now, and it keeps getting better. Our conversation tackles Advaita misconceptions, Bob’s time with Richard Rose, his own awakening experience, and even includes Bob’s “cheat sheet” for the spiritual search.

After our interview, Bob emailed me a couple of comments.

Regarding that question you asked about the effect of realization on my (in one’s) life – I feel I may have under-stated the impact. Yes, it does not change too much of anything to an external observer – my wife told me I seemed more distant after I told her “something” had happened – but it changes everything in one’s interior life. Not a day goes by that I am not affected in some way, or think about something in a certain way, that absent the realization would not be the same – and less somehow. So my life is enriched in a way that I can’t very well describe since it’s not enriched in conventional terms.

and

I ran across the quatrain from the Rubaiyat that I had in mind last Saturday but just couldn’t recall it. It pretty much encapsulates my predominant mood. I strongly picked up the same mood from Richard Rose, and it comes through in many of his poems, too:

Ah, Love! Could you and I with Fate conspire
To grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire,
Would not we shatter it to bits-and then
Re-mold it nearer to the Heart’s Desire!

Sure, and of course – everything is perfect as it is – but I agree with Rose that “The Night is cold, and Truth is too thin a blanket.”